Life sentence increased for woman trafficking 2 cakes of heroin
(Baonghean.vn) - For trafficking 2 heroin cakes, Pham Thi Mai was sentenced to 20 years in prison by the court of first instance. Later, the People's Procuracy of Nghe An province appealed to increase the sentence to life imprisonment.
On the morning of December 26, in Nghe An, the Hanoi High People's Court opened an appeal trial of Pham Thi Mai (born in 1960), residing in Hamlet 13B, Nghi Kim Commune (Vinh City) for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking".
According to the investigation agency's documents, Mai had lived in Laos for a while. During her time working there, Mai met a woman from Huong Son (Ha Tinh). Around February 2019, Mai was introduced to a man named Hinh (from Nghia Dan district). Hinh contacted her and said he needed to buy 2 heroin cakes for 15,000 USD.
On March 25, Mai met a man named Khum (Lao) at his shop in Cham Phon district (Savannakhet province, Laos) and asked to buy 2 heroin cakes, agreeing on a price of 8,000 USD.
Two days later, Khum brought 2 heroin cakes to sell to Mai. After receiving the “goods”, Mai kept them in her shop and called Hinh to inform him. Afterwards, Mai took the heroin back to Vietnam.
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| Defendant Pham Thi Mai at the appeal court. Photo: Tran Vu |
On the morning of April 1, when she arrived in Hong Linh town (Ha Tinh), Pham Thi Mai called Hinh to meet there to make a transaction. That evening, Hinh said he didn't have any money yet so he wanted Mai to take 2 heroin cakes with him to Nam Dinh to get the money, Mai agreed.
After that, the two took a bus to Nha Le canal area (Nghi Loc district). Hinh told Mai to get off the bus to take his husband's car and continue to Nam Dinh.
However, when Mai and Hinh and his wife were having dinner in Quynh Hong commune (Quynh Luu district), Hinh's husband said he had to change to another car. Mai took the bag containing heroin into the restaurant to continue eating when suddenly the police force raided and arrested her along with the evidence of 2 heroin cakes weighing 687.07 grams. Taking advantage of the loophole, the woman named Hinh escaped.
At the first instance trial held by the People's Court of Nghe An province in August 2019, defendant Mai admitted to the crime as charged in the indictment. Regarding the money used to buy drugs, Mai said she had "mortgaged" a gold necklace and borrowed more from others. According to the defendant's calculations, if this business transaction was successful, she would pocket 7,000 USD. The first instance court sentenced Pham Thi Mai to 20 years in prison for "Illegal drug trafficking".
After the first instance verdict, the defendant did not appeal, but the People's Procuracy appealed to increase the sentence for Pham Thi Mai to life imprisonment due to the large amount of drugs. At the trial, the People's Procuracy maintained the content of the appeal.
The Court of Appeal determined that the defendant Mai’s actions were dangerous to society. Because of greed, the defendant recklessly trafficked a large amount of drugs. The first instance sentence against the defendant was too lenient. Therefore, the Court of Appeal accepted the appeal of the Nghe An Provincial People’s Procuracy, increasing the sentence for Pham Thi Mai from 20 years to life in prison for the crime of “Illegal drug trafficking”.
